Starting To Be Forbidden Title Still Pending
by Knelie
Summary: Everything is finally starting to be normal in Konoha; the Akatsuki is almost completly wiped out. But, just as soon as everything ended, things get even weirder and twice as dangerous. KakaSaku, NaruHine, ShikaIno.
1. A Meeting, A Beating, And Retreating

**AN: **Ok, just to clear some things up:

Sakura is 17 in this fan fiction, and Kakashi is 28.

Sakura has been away on some mission for a couple of months.

And if there is anything else that confuses you, please feel free to ask me.

Enjoy!

* * *

Sakura breathed in the fresh air of flowers, the market place – even ramen. She loved spring, it was always so happy. She thought she might stop by Ino's flower shop to go get some flowers for the desk at the hospital, to liven things up a bit.

It had been so boring the last couple of years, after she turned 15 things got so dull. The Akatsuki wasn't around anymore, with the exception of Itachi, so none of the villages really had anything to worry about. They just went back to their normal lives – which was as boring as hell.

Not to mention that Sasuke had come back to Konoha, even though Itachi isn't gone. Maybe he wants to train more at the leaf, since Orochimaru is gone? Who knows. But ever since he came back, he's been being a prick to everyone around him – especially Sakura.

She had no clue what on earth she could've done to be treated like that, but all he does is ridicule her and poke fun at her for miniscule things. Things like: stubbing her toe, dropping a safety pin, forgetting to close the door all the way, etc, etc. No one knows WHY he does it, he just does.

And, to make things even weirder Naruto has dropped his weird obsession with Sakura and opened his eyes; him and Hinata are both dating! Sakura was happy that he finally cut it out, and she was really happy for Hinata and him. But truth be told, she kinda missed having Naruto harass her everyday; it made her feel wanted. Now no one has shown any interest in her, and it's brought down her self esteem a considerable amount.

_Ah! Finally! _Sakura thought, _I'm here!_ She walked into the flower shop, and the familiar bell on the door chimed. Ino whipped around her blonde head, and grinned at Sakura.

"Hey! Long time so see!" she practically shouted, "what brings you around here?"

"Oh, nothing really. Just wanted a couple of carnations to bring to the hospital, maybe it'll liven everybody up." Sakura told her.

"Oh yeah, I hear it's been pretty boring in there lately. Sucks to be you! Haha!" Ino teased. _Yup, _Sakura thought, _same old Ino. Guess time doesn't change much. _

"Well, aren't you just the sweetest little thing? Way to treat your best friend who you haven't seen for months!" the pink haired medic shouted.

"Haha, well excuse me! I was up really late last night..." the flower girl blushed. Sakura raised an eyebrow, as if to inquire what Ino was up to.

"I was, uh...out at a club." She stated.

"With...?" Sakura asked her.

"SHIKAMARU!" The blonde beauty screeched. Sakura let her jaw drop, she was awestruck. Ino had been crushing on Shikamaru for years; she never thought that he would feel the same way about Ino.

"Oh my gosh! Ino, I'm so happy for you!" Sakura beamed with excitement for her best friend.

"When is your guys' next date?" she asked her friend.

"Well, it's actually tonight. We were hoping to find a bunch of people to go with us...so far we have Naruto and Hinata, but that's it. Say, would you like to hop on the bandwagon?" she asked, her sky blue eyes beaming with hope and a smile plastered to her face.

"Well," Sakura began, "I would love to, but I'm afraid I don't have a date." _Phew, _she thought, _got myself outta that one!_ When Sakura looked up and saw her friend looking so hurt, she felt like shit.

"But, I guess I could find someone..." she muttered. _Oh hell, this is NOT going to be fun. _

Just that minute, the store's bell chimed again and Sakura turned around to see a familiar face, with a black bowl cut and bushy eyebrows looking flustered. Of course, there was ONE boy who still had some interest in her. But him, of all people?

"Oh, uhm, hello there Ino I was wondering if you had any-" Lee stopped dead in his tracks with his mouth open.

"I..u-uh..." he stuttered, looking at the floor.

"Lee! Don't be an idiot, say hello for god's sakes. You haven't seen Sakura for what, 2 months? Geez, people these days..." Ino trailed off, muttering more of her rant to herself.

"U-uhm hello Sakura-san. H-how are you?" Lee said, finally taking his gaze off the floor to look at her bright green eyes.

"Hi Lee," Sakura chimed, with a pretty smile on her face, "I'm good. How are you?"

"Well, I suppose I'm alright. I've been training really hard with Guy-sensei," he said.

"As always..." Ino said to herself, rolling her eyes. It took all Sakura had to not burst out laughing.

"It's good to hear that, Lee. I haven't been training much; I WAS on that mission for a few months and there wasn't a lot of time to stop and train," she said, flashing her teeth with a giggle.

Rock Lee's eyes lit up; there was nothing more fantastic in this world than seeing Sakura-san smile. He could feel the blood rushing to his head, and he prayed he wasn't blushing.

"Hey! I have an idea..." Ino said. _Oh no, _Sakura thought, _Oh GOD no! If she does, I'll kill her..._

"Lee! Me, Shikamaru, Naruto and Hinata are going out tonight. Sakura wants to come, but she doesn't have a date. Would you like to do the hon-"

"Leave it to me!" Lee yelled, "Don't worry Sakura-san! I will make sure that you have a most enjoyable experience of your life tonight! I'll buy all your drinks, food, and other things you may need! What time shall I pick you up?" he rambled.

_Good grief, _she thought, _that kid needs to take a chill pill. _

"Oh, you can pick her up at 7:30, sharp Lee." Ino grinned. Sakura whipped her head around to give Ino a death glare, but Lee's unnatural squeal was enough to make her spin around and cock one of her eyebrows up.

"Alright! See you later Sakura-san!" he shouted.

"Uh, yeah, bye Lee." Sakura replied. _**What's a matter with you? Bash her face in! She didn't even ask if it was alright with you! KILL HER! **_Inner Sakura screeched.

"INO!" Sakura yelled, "What is a matter with you! This is so embarrassing..." she felt like crawling under a rock and dying. Ino always picked the most popular night clubs for them to go to, and even though they were all only 17, she always managed to let security let them in. Just like she always managed to talk Sakura into doing stupid things.

"What?" the blonde tilted her head to the side, and gave her friend an innocent look, "I don't see what I did wrong?"

"Ugh, you erk me Ino." Sakura chuckled. Ino smiled at the pink haired medic, and gave her the bouquet of flowers.

"Right back at ya, soul sister."

Sakura grabbed the flowers, payed for them and walked to the door.

"See you at 7:30!" Ino chimed, violently waving her arm from the reception desk.

Sakura rolled her eyes in the back of her head as she made her way to the hospital, dreading the night to come.

* * *

Kakashi chuckled to himself as he sat on a rickety old hammock, reading _Icha Icha Paradise._ Man oh man, how he **loved **those books. He had read the whole series roughly 25 times, or more.

The silver haired Jounin looked up at the setting sun, and thought he should be on his way home. Just to double check what time it was, he looked at his watch. 7:30, sharp.

"Well, looks like I'll have to finish _you,_" he said, pointing at the orange book, "When I get home." He sat up and stretched, and started his long walk back to his roomy apartment.

* * *

Looking at herself in the mirror, Sakura was trying to figure out whether or not she should leave her hair down, or put it up in a cute messy bun. She wasn't much of a party animal, but when she did go out she liked to look nice. She wondered what would look nicer with the outfit she was wearing; jean short shorts and a black tank top. She decided a messy bun would look best.

_Ding dong!_ She heard the door bell ring. The kunoichi ran downstairs, and grabbed her purse on the way down. Opening the door, she saw Lee wearing his regular; his bright green jumpsuit. She sighed and rolled her eyes, -making sure he didn't see- and greeted him with a smile and walked outside.

"Hello, Sakura-san." Lee said, grinning ear to ear.

"Hey, Lee." She replied.

"Uhm, Sakura-san, you can leave your purse at home."

"Oh..." she said, puzzled.

"Well, I thought we had agreed that I would be paying for food and beverages for you tonight, had we not?" he asked her.

"Well Lee, I don't really want you to spend all your money on me..."

"Non-sense! Sakura-san, it's my pleasure!"

"Oh, alright. But just this once, alright?" she opened the door and set her purse down on a small table, and locked the door.

"Let's go!" she exclaimed, hoping she could make the best out of this night that she could.

* * *

Kakashi yawned as he walked through the streets of Konoha, he was so bored. He didn't want to go home, and he didn't want to sleep. _Maybe, I'll go visit Obito, _he thought. Yes, that's what he'll do.

He made his way through the maze of streets, until he finally found the memorial stone. He got down on his knees, and started looking for Obito's name, even though he had the spot memorized. Tracing his finger across his name, he felt tears well up in his eyes. It had been about 14 years, and he still hadn't gotten over his newly found friend's tragic death. "I'm...sorry Obito." He thought out loud. _I'm defiantly going to be here for a while, _the copy ninja thought to himself.

* * *

Sakura walked into the night club, and saw Ino standing _very _close to Shikamaru, and she had her usually flirty look on.

"Hey! Sakura! Lee!" the golden haired beauty screamed over the blasting music. She grabbed Shikamaru's hand, and shoved their way through the crowd to get to them.

"Hey guys," Shikamaru said, with a huge smile on his face. It almost looked like he was...blushing?

"Hey Shikamaru," Sakura said, returning the smile, "Ino."

"Uh, hey." Lee awkwardly said.

"Hey, where's-" Sakura started, but she could hear Naruto's laughter from across the building. She looked to her right, and Naruto and Hinata were sitting at a booth cuddling and obviously cracking jokes with one another.

"Oh, ha-ha, that's our table by the way, in case you wanted any drinks ordered." Ino told her friend.

"C'mon! Let's all go sit down, and have a round of sake! On me!" she gleefully said.

After an hour or two of dancing, and sake – LOTS of sake – Sakura decided to go home. Lee had already left about a half hour earlier, so she was all by herself and way able to enjoy the last half of the night. She walked out of the night club, and was on her way down the street when she heard hysterical laughter. It didn't sound normal though, it sounded...crazy.

* * *

"Well, I better be on my way, it's almost 9:30." Kakashi thought out loud. He got up from the memorial stone, and brushed off his pants. After stretching, he turned and made his way down the street he came from. Deciding to take a short cut, he turned right and found himself down the 'one night stand boulevard'. This is the street where all the crazies come out at night, and get hammered and freak everybody out. He shrugged his shoulders, shoved his hands in his pockets and continued his walk.

Just then, he heard some laughter. _That's weird..._ he thought. Kakashi stopped walking, and look ahead. Sakura was in the middle of the street, and Sasuke was standing right behind her, laughing. That was weird. _They never get along, _he questioned himself. _Maybe, Sasuke is changing for the better? _

The Jounin didn't want to get in the way of their 'bonding' time, so he quickly hid behind a cigarette stand. Breathing in the air, he coughed a little. Tilting his masked face to the side, he eavesdropped on their conversation.

"Hahahahaha, hahaha!" Sasuke cackled.

"W-what do you want?" Sakura stuttered. She had absolutely no idea why he was here, or what he wanted, but she knew the outcome wasn't going to be a pleasant one.

The pale kunoichi turned to face Sasuke, to see him wiping the tears from his eyes. **What kinda psycho is this guy? **Her inner self thought.

"Oh, I just saw you in the club with Lee, that's all."

Sakura raised an eyebrow.

"So?"

"Don't you think that's a LITTLE desperate Sakura, even for you?"

"Desperate?"

"Oh, please. God, you're such a whiny little bitch."

Kakashi clenched his fists.

"W-what did I do?"

"Ever since Naruto has lost interest in you, you've been trying to be a little attention whore. But the truth is, no one likes you Sakura. You're _**worthless.**_ You're an _**awful **_ninja, and not to mention the fact that you're about as pretty as a pile of shit. "

Sakura felt the tears streaming down her face. Why was he saying these things? What was his problem! She felt like collapsing in a ball, and just breaking down.

"Oh, now you're going to cry your way out of another situation, are you? Nope. I don't think so."

Before she had time to look up, she felt a sharp pressure in her stomach. He had kicked her.

"Well, you stupid little slut, see you tomorrow around town. Bye, bitch." And with that, Sasuke left her on the street, bawling her eyes out.

Kakashi stood in his hiding spot behind the wall. He knew he couldn't go help her, Sasuke was obviously still watching. If he tried to help her, he would just make fun of her for getting someone to stick up for her. Roughly, Kakashi banged the back of his head on the stand he was leaning against in anguish.

"Damn it..." he whispered to himself. He should have done something, anything...

He saw Sakura pick herself up, and start walking home. He decided he should do them same, and made sure she and Sasuke were gone before he went on his way home.


	2. Knight In Shining Armour

Kakashi woke up to the sound of birds chirping outside his window. He turned over and looked at his clock – 5:15 A.M.

"God damned birds..." he said to himself. Then, he shifted his thoughts to what had happened the other night. He hoped Sakura was ok...Maybe he should try to do something nice for her today.

Kakashi, realizing he wasn't much of a 'do-something-nice-for-someone-out-of-the-blue' kind of person, so he had his hands tied.

"Hmm..." he thought aloud, "maybe I'll go ask her if she wants any help with training. Perhaps it'll take her mind off things." The lean 28 year old pulled the covers off, revealing his only clothing – blue and navy pajama pants.

After taking up his daily morning routine, he put on his Jounin vest and was on his way to find Sakura.

Sakura groaned at the frantic buzzing of her alarm clock, and slapped it to shut up.

"What? I did NOT set my alarm for 5:30! Ugh!" she said to herself. She wiped the dried tears under her eyes – she had cried herself to sleep again. Sakura desperately wished she could beat the crap out of Sasuke; but a part of her still had feelings for him.

The kunoichi picked herself up of the bed, and hopped into the shower and went through her regular morning regiment –but slower than usual. By quarter after six, she went out the doors of her cramped apartment and off to find something to do.

While she was walking down the street, she decided she would go get some ramen – maybe Naruto would be there, and maybe she could talk to him. If she felt up to it that is. As she turned the corner, Sakura heard someone frantically screaming her name. _Oh god, no, PLEASE no!_ She screamed in her head. The pink haired beauty could've run; but she just stood on the spot and squinted waiting for the worst to come.

"SAKURA-SAN!" Lee screamed, shoving his way through the crowd of people in the market. "Sakura," he started, panting heavily, "I was...wondering...if you would like to go out on another-"

"Yo! Sakura!" she heard another familiar voice; this one MUCH more comforting. She whipped her short pink hair around and saw him.

"Sensei!" she shouted, along with a sigh of relief. "Sensei, what are you doing here?"

"Yeah, what are you doing here..." Lee snapped at him. Kakashi was a bit taken aback by Lee's behaviour, but he thought nothing of it.

"Well," the silver haired man started, "I came to ask Sakura if she wanted to go train for a bit." He turned to look at her. "How 'bout it Sakura?"

She couldn't see it, but she could tell that he was smiling under his mask – which usually meant they weren't going to do any training. They were probably just going to lounge around all day, doing absolutely nothing – which was a hell of a lot better than doing absolutely something with Lee.

"But, I was just about to ask Sakura-" Lee got cut off again.

"Yeah, yeah! Let's go Kaka-sensei!" she almost screamed.

"Bye, Lee!" she said, not even turning back to look at him as she walked away with her teacher.

"Later!" Kakashi said, but he at least had the courtesy to wave to Lee.

"So..." Kakashi said, trying to start up a conversation. "What were you and Lee talking about?"

"Oh," Sakura started, "well I think he was going to ask me out on another date. I am so glad you came though! You're like a knight in shining armour!" she squealed.

Kakashi blushed, and he was grateful for the mask covering his face.

"Another date?" he asked, pretending to be clueless.

"Yeah, another one. Last night Ino invited me to go to a club with her, Shikamaru-" she stopped. "Oops..."

"Tsk tsk Sakura," he said jokingly, "your only seventeen! You shouldn't be going to clubs!"

Sakura looked up at him, with an apologetic look on her face.

"Sakura, I'm kidding." He laughed.

"Oh, haha, I knew that!" she giggled, elbowing him in the stomach.

"Anyways, with her, Shikamaru, Naruto, and Hinata. But I didn't have a date, and Lee walked in. What do you think Ino did?"

"Oh, well, that sucks."

"Yeah."

They walked in silence for a while. Sakura peeked a look up at her teacher; she could see a grin on his face. She wondered why he was grinning, when they got to the training ground.

"Alright Sakura, what do you want to work on? Tai jutsu? Nin jutsu? Gen jutsu?"

"Hmm...How about Tai jutsu?"

"Sounds good."

Kakashi threw a punch at Sakura that she was not expected, and held it right before it hit her nose. He leaned in and whispered:

"Stay on your toes! That was a close one!"

He jumped back, while Sakura blinked and took everything in. Before she knew it, he was lunging at her again, this time with a kunai in his hand.

She just barely dodged it, and he flew past her. She spun around and before he had time to turn, she was on his back, with a kunai at his throat. She leaned her head over his shoulder, and said:

"Stay on your toes sensei! That was a close one!"

She giggled and leapt back, waiting for his next move.

"Well, your improving a considerable amount since the last time we trained," he reached his hand up and pulled back his headband; revealing his mangeko Sharigan.

"Let's see how you match up to this." He said, smirking underneath his mask.

"No fair!" she yelled, as he ran around her backside, and had a kunai up to her throat again.

"Oh, quit your whining. You could be dead right now."

"You'd never hurt me! I know you wouldn't."

"Is that so?"

"Yep!"

"Alright then," he pressed the kunai into her throat, just enough to draw a single drop of blood.

"Ouch! What the hell!"

"Well, you seemed to be so confident that I would never hurt you – I had to prove you wrong." He stepped back and let her turned around. She put a hand up to her throat, and healed the cut. Sakura just stared at him.

"If your right all the time, it'll just go to your head." He said. They stared at each other for a while, before they burst out laughing.

"Well, break time." Kakashi said. He pulled out his favourite book, and sat down against a tree and started reading.

_Well, what am I supposed to do?_ Sakura thought to herself. _I know..._

She quietly snuck around to the tree where her sensei was reading. He was completely absorbed in his book; making it all easier. Sakura climbed up the tree, and focused her chakra so she could walk down the tree. She ever so carefully reached her hands down..._she was going to do it! She was finally going to see under Kakashi's mask!_ She had her hands right by his mask, and grabbed the sides and yanked down. Or so she thought.

Kakashi dropped his book, and grabbed both of her hands and flipped her over; so she was sitting in between his legs, facing him. His mask hadn't even moved.

"But how did you-"

"Sakura, you really think I didn't notice?"

"You have a valid point."

He laughed, "well, since you seem to be trying to scheme to get my mask off, how about some ramen?"

She grinned. "Yeah! That sounds like fun"

They both got up, and started walking towards town. Lee burst out of the tree's, obviously looking for Sakura. She hid behind her sensei.

"Uhm, Kaka-sensei I'm so sorry, but can we do ramen another time?" her voice a bit shaky.

"Haha, sure Sakura. Meet me by the ramen shop tomorrow, at lunch?"

"You got it!" with that, Sakura poof-ed into nothing.

"Sakura!" Lee yelled. He stopped when he saw Kakashi walking across the field.

"So, did you and Sakura have fun?" he said, a bit ruder than intended.

"Fun? Lee, we were _training_. Think about that." Kakashi chuckled.

"Think about this!" Lee flew at Kakashi, flailing his hands all over the place, screaming.

_W-what the?_


	3. What's Going On?

**AN: **Sorry! This chapter is a little short, but the chapter after it will be...good? Hopefully! Keep reading!

And thank you so much for the reviews! They really give me a lot of energy to write! :D

* * *

Kakashi narrowly dodged Lee's fists. _Could he just...want to practice his Tai Jutsu? Probably. _

"Alright," Kakashi smirked, "I'm game."

He whipped out a kunai, and expertly swung it around his finger. Lee flew at him with another punch, which he ducked and Lee went hurdling over his head. The copy-nin spun around on his heels, and Lee couldn't be found anywhere.

"SHADOW OF THE DANCING LEAF!" Lee screamed.

"What?"

Kakashi dropped his kunai and was launched into the air. He quickly knew what was coming next.

"FRONT LOTUS!"

Kakashi felt Lee grab him from behind, and drill him right into the ground. Lee seemed to have done the technique with a bit more powerful edge – odd for training. In fact, odd he would use such a powerful technique while training. Kakashi thought nothing of it, and continued on.

He got up, and started quickly performing hand seals: Ram, horse, then bird.

"Water style; Tornado of Water!"

Lee was engulfed in a massive tornado of water, spinning and spinning, and spinning until he couldn't think straight. Just when Kakashi had thought Lee had enough, he burst out of the water, and came straight at Kakashi with a kunai.

Kakashi just barely dodged it; it had grazed his arm, and he was bleeding. Lee started moving faster, and faster – too fast to be normal.

"He must be opening the gates..." Kakashi whispered to himself. _Something's not right. This isn't normal for regular training._ When Rock Lee came at him faster and faster, and started hitting him harder and harder, he had to put an end to it. He reached up and tugged back his headband, revealing his sharingan. Using it to slow everything down, and track Lee's movements he used a familiar technique; Double Suicide Decapitation.

He went under the ground, and pulled Lee under so only his head was poking through.

Wiping his hands, he realized Lee had hit him more than he thought. He had cuts all up his left arm, and they were bleeding pretty badly. He went to walk towards Lee, but then realized his right ankle was broken. Slightly wincing at the pain, he spoke to Lee.

"Lee, what on earth was that all about?" he raised an eyebrow.

"You know what!" Lee yelled at him. He was furious, that much was obvious.

"Well, I actually don't. That would be why I'm asking you."

"You...you...you! You purposely took Sakura 'training', didn't you? I bet you two weren't even training at all."

The silver haired man was quite taken aback by Lee. Is that how it had appeared? Kakashi even started to question his own actions.

"Lee, that's not what it was like at all. I just..."

"See! Just like I thought."

"No, no! You don't understand! Something...happened the other night, and I wanted Sakura to feel better. I thought maybe some training would take her mind off things."

Lee immediately thought of when he left the club the other night. He felt awful. That was probably the cause of this whole thing. _Damn, because of my incompetence, she's been drawn away from me. I cannot loose! _

"Well," Lee said, "it was probably because I left a little early from out _date_ last night."

Kakashi couldn't help but feel a little jealous. He cared for Sakura a lot; mainly because she was his student, and he had grown a bond to her. But, she has been gone for so long...he didn't want to admit it, but he missed her.

He took a deep breath, and calmly spoke.

"Oh. Don't think you kinda made an ass of yourself?"

Lee's mouth dropped. He did not expect Kakashi to be so calm. He had expected him to be more...jealous.

Kakashi smirked to himself once he saw Lee's reaction. _That little twerp thinks he made Sakura upset! What a riot!_

"Well...I...uh...no! I did not make an ass out of myself!"

"Oh, I think you did."

"Did not!"

"Do you have ANY manners Lee? Don't you know its rude to just walk out on a date?"

"Yes!"

"Then, why'd you do it? Sakura must not mean that much to you."

Lee's face was red with fury. It was all Kakashi had to not laugh at his naive little face.

Lee burst out of the ground, and sent a kunai straight into Kakashi's upper thigh, hitting a major blood vessel. Kakashi's leg starting bleeding very badly, and he wanted to retaliate, but he didn't. Lee was just a kid; he shouldn't beat down on him for one little incident. He's had worse, much worse.

Lee was furious that Kakashi wasn't fighting back. It wasn't like him! Lee took out his nunchuk's, and starting spinning them so fast you couldn't even see them. He whipped them at the side of Kakashi's face, shattering his jaw.

The copy nin started coughing up blood. Horrified at what Lee had done, he looked up and saw him, _smiling._

"Lee..." Kakashi said, before passing out.

* * *

Sakura was busy taking care of a patient, when Hinata burst in the room, panting.

"Sakura..." she softly said.

Sakura whipped her head around.

"What's wrong Hinata?" she asked her, with a look of worry on her face.

"It's...Kakashi...he's hurt. We...need...your help."

Sakura's worried look immediately turned into one of horror. _When did this happen? I only left a few hours ago!_

"I-I'll be right there! What room is he in?"

"2...01..."

"Got it!"

Sakura ran down the hallway, and climbed 4 flights of stairs before she got to the right floor. She then frantically ran to the end of the hallway and opened his door. She saw him on the bed, and blood was soaking though his bandages. His mouth was crooked – he had probably broken his jaw. She had a hard time coping with her sensei being so wounded. She rushed to the side of his bed.

"Kaka-sensei!" she grabbed his hand. "What happened?"

She heard a slight mumble, and realized that he couldn't talk if his jaw was broken. She quickly focused her chakra on his jaw.

Kakashi felt completely at ease when he felt Sakura's chakra healing his jaw. Her chakra was like no other kunoichi – it took away absolutely all the pain. He let a sigh of relief escape his lips.

Once Sakura thought she was done healing him, she asked him what happened again.

"After you left..."

"Yes?"

"Lee...he...he lunged at me. We got into a fight. At first I thought he just wanted to train, but it turned into more than that. He started opening gates; so I pulled him into the ground. We started talking...and he burst out. He pulled out his nunchuk's, and then he broke my jaw."

The look on Sakura's face was awful. She was so shocked by what Kakashi just told her, she almost didn't believe it. But she trusted Kakashi; he was her teacher after all.

"But...why?"

Kakashi took a deep breath. He had no idea how she was going to take this.

"I'm pretty sure...he was jealous."

Sakura blushed.

"Uhm...of what?"

"Of me, having alone training time with you."

Her cheeks got even redder, and Kakashi grinned under his mask. Then, he flinched and silently swore to himself, because his jaw was still sore. He spoke again,

"But, I guess anyone would be jealous of that."

He saw her eyes grow wide, and immediately regretted what he said. Kakashi beat himself up on the inside, knowing that he shouldn't have said that.

"Sorry sensei...I uh...have to go..."

Sakura gave him a quick smile, and turned and walked out of the room.

* * *

**AN: ****Don't forget to write reviews! :D**


	4. An Apology

**AN: ****Sorry for such short chapters guys! I know they're short, but I'll just make more of them xD The chapters to come soon, around chapter 9 or 10 are gunna get longer, don't worry. Thanks for the reviews!**

* * *

Kakashi was very upset with himself. He needed to keep his emotions in check; he was a shinobi for god's sakes.

More importantly, Sakura was one of his _students_. He didn't want to take advantage of her that way. She trusted him with her life, and he wasn't about to change that.

He mentally slapped himself, and realized he probably freaked Sakura out. _What should I do? _he thought. Should he wait a few days? No, she would just be even more upset. She he get someone to talk to her for him? Absolutely not! He was no coward. _Hmm..._ After a minute or two of contemplating, he decided it would be best to go, and apologize for his actions right away – then leave her alone for a while.

* * *

Sakura was in the main office of the hospital, writing and filing reports for many of the patients. She was thinking about what Kakashi had said to her. _I wonder...if he really meant it?_ Thinking that he did, weirded her out at first – but the more she thought about it, it was kind of cute. But it was weird to think about her teacher like that. She shook the thought out of her head.

Just then, Ino walked in.

"Hey Sakura!" she gleamed.

Sakura hardly even noticed her. She looked up, gave a faint smile, then went back to doing reports.

Ino put on a pouty face, and leaned on the front desk.

"What's a matter Sakura?" she looked at her friend. She thought it might've just been her fluorescent pink hair, but then she realized that she was blushing – REALLY bad.

"Oh my goodness! What happened, with you and who? I want details missy!"

"Ino...not right now ok? I'll call you later tonight or something."

Ino pouted. _Jeez, she's never been like this before. Except after Sasuke left._ Just then, she saw Kakashi hobbling down the hallway.

He stopped when he saw Ino, and started to turn around. Ino mouthed 'no, I'll leave' to him, and said a quick good bye to Sakura before leaving.

Kakashi took a deep breath and crookedly walked over to the front desk.

Sakura could feel a presence there, and started to tell whoever it was that they would have to come back later. She looked up and saw her sensei, standing there.

"Oh, ok I guess I'll just-"

"No! I mean uhm, what did you need?"

He looked at her, and his mind started to wander. Why did he come down here again? Oh, right.

"I just..I wanted to apologize."

Sakura turned red again.

"Oh..."

"It was really inappropriate for me to say that to you, and you must feel really weird. I just wanted to say sorry, and let you know that I didn't mean it in that way..."

He looked at Sakura and she was looking at her feet; which usually wasn't a good sign.

"Uhm...ok. Thanks." Sakura quietly said. She didn't believe him at all.

Kakashi sighed. He could tell she didn't believe him, and turned to start walking back to his room. She had good reason too – he wasn't telling the truth. He DID mean it that way.

_Perhaps it was too soon to make the first move?_ _Yeah, I guess it was, _he thought to himself.

Sakura was sitting in a chair in the office, thinking about his apology. She believed he was sorry, but the kunoichi didn't believe that was how he meant it. _Oh well, _she thought to herself, _I have to get over it. He's my patient, and from the looks of it he'll be in here for a while._

Kakashi plopped back down on his bed, wincing a bit at the pain. He thought and thought about how upset he was at himself for saying that to Sakura.

_I guess...I guess she doesn't feel the same way._

_

* * *

_

**AN: ****Thanks for reading! Don't forget to review!**


	5. Released Emotions

**AN: ****Ok! I got 2 chapters up in one night, probably the sixth one tomorrow. I have a feeling you guys will LOVE the next chapter... -insert evil snicker here-**

* * *

It had been about 3 weeks, and while Sakura had completely forgotten about what Kakashi had said to her, he'd been beating himself up over it the whole time.

He was getting better, and was going to be let out of the hospital today. Kakashi closed his eyes and decided to rest; he still had to take it easy for a while.

He was almost asleep when Sakura walked in with a clipboard. She was walking up to his bed to give him another check up, when Sasuke walked in.

Kakashi remained 'asleep' and listened to the both of them.

"Sasuke...what are you doing here?" she said. She really wasn't in the mood for this; she had had a tough day at work.

"What are you doing here? You're useless."

Sakura felt the tears well up in her eyes. _Not again, _she thought.

"Anyways, I came to tell you how completely pathetic you are, again. I heard you were talking to Kakashi, and he said once sentence and you ran out of the room? Seriously Sakura. Grow up!"

Kakashi was furious. It was one thing to pick on someone, but constantly? That was just immature, and rude. He was clenching his fists again, restraining himself from getting up and punching Sasuke right in the face. The copy nin could hear Sakura starting to cry, and he wanted to get up and give her a hug so bad.

"I...I didn't even do anything to you!" she said.

"Yeah, you did. You're a pain in the ass."

"No I'm not!" she yelled.

Sasuke laughed, and Kakashi heard a slapping noise.

"Yes, you fucking are." He stared at her while she was holding her face, the tears streaming down her cheeks.

"Why?" she asked him.

"Why? Because you're a useless pile of shit, that's why. You never do shit all; you just sit in the hospital filing god damn reports. You think you ACTUALLY have to right to call yourself a ninja? Ha, in your dreams."

Kakashi was livid. It was all he could do now, to not get up and scream in Sasuke's face.

Sakura was fighting with herself to hold back the flood of tears about to come.

"Well, see you later, bitch." Before he left, he slapped her again, sending her to the ground.

She held her face, and looked up at Sasuke – he was smiling. He walked out of the room with a full out grin, plastered on his face.

She burst into tears. She couldn't stand him! What was his problem?

Gathering herself, she got up off the floor and wiped her eyes. _Why me..._

Once she got up, she picked up her clip board and walked over to Kakashi's bed. She reached over his bed to grab an empty glass, and he decided it was time to 'wake up'.

He moved a little, and pretended to yawn. Sakura drew back her hand quickly, as to not hit him, but she pulled back too fast and hit him in the side of the head with the glass. The kunoichi gasped and threw her hands up to her mouth.

"Ow..." Kakashi muttered, as he rubbed his head.

"I-I-I'm sorry!" she stuttered. Sasuke's words came back to haunt her: _You're useless._ She felt the tears well up in her eyes. _Not now...he doesn't need to see you cry._

"Is...Is everything alright Sakura?" the silver haired Jounin asked her. He bent over and peered up and her face, which was looking at the ground. She looked up and was shocked to meet his gaze.

Oddly enough, she felt it was ok to cry around him. Something about his presence put her at ease. But she didn't want to cry now.

Sakura looked into his dark eyes, and felt warm inside.

"Sorry...if I woke you up." She said, avoiding his question.

"Don't worry Sakura, you didn't," Kakashi said, smiling. She smiled back.

"But, are you alright? You look like you've been crying."

Her smile faded, and she looked at the floor again.

"I'm...fine."

Kakashi reached one of his fingers underneath her chin, and lifted her face up to meet his gaze.

"Are you sure?" he said, cocking an eyebrow.

She nodded.

"Alright," he started, while reaching down to grab Sakura's hand, "but just know if you ever need to talk, I'm here." He put his other hand on top of hers, and looked up and smiled at her.

She was surprised at Kakashi's actions, but despite the awkwardness she felt, she squeezed his hands and gave a sincere smile.

"You got it!"

* * *

It was later that afternoon, and Kakashi had gotten a change of clothes and was finally let out of the hospital.

He went down the stairs, and waved goodbye to all the secretary's at the front desk – including Sakura. They made eye contact, and he saw her blush a little, and she gave him a big smile.

_Hmm, maybe I did cheer her up._

_

* * *

_

******AN: ****Thanks for reading guys! Don't forget to review, and give me suggestions too!**


	6. Karma

**AN: ****Sorry guys, it's been a while since I updated. I was out at a lake, tubing & Sea-Dooing haha! But now, I assure you, the chapters are going to be long -like this one- from now on. I decided to join some chapters, to make them more interesting to read. Anyways, enjoy!**

* * *

"Bye Hinata! See you on Monday!" Sakura shouted, as she left the hospital. _Ah, it's finally the weekend!_

She strolled down the street, and thought about what Sasuke had said to her earlier. She NEEDED to vent to someone, but who?

"Ino," she thought out loud. "No, she would just tell everyone...Hinata? No, she wouldn't get any of it...Shizune? No, she'd just tell Tsunade."

Then, she thought of a certain silver haired copy ninja, and her face lit up.

* * *

Once Kakashi got home and tidied up his apartment, he flopped down on his couch and grabbed his favourite book and started reading. Before he even read a sentence, someone popped into his head: Sasuke.

"That little prick..." he whispered to himself. He shut the book, set it on the coffee table in front of him and starting walking down the street to find the youngest Uchiha brother.

The Jounin spotted Sasuke in the market place, and he ran up to him.

Sasuke turned around when he felt a tapping on his shoulder.

"Oh, hey sensei." He said, coldly looking at his teacher.

"Don't you give me that bull shit. How dare you talk to someone like that!" Kakashi fumed. He was absolutely livid for what Sasuke had said to Sakura; no one deserved to be treated that way. Especially her.

"What are you talking abo-"

"You damn well know what I'm talking about, Sasuke." Kakashi glared into Sasuke's black eyes.

"Actually, I don't."

"You fucking little shit."

Kakashi punched Sasuke in the face, sending him flying. Before he could get up, the copy nin sped over to him, and focused chakra to his foot and stomped on Sasuke's left leg – snapping the bone in two.

Sasuke moaned as the pain overwhelmed his leg.

"Kakashi-sensei, what's your prob-" the Jounin punched Sasuke in the mouth this time, breaking his jaw.

Sasuke grabbed his jaw in pure agony, and bumped his nose – causing even more pain, he figured out Kakashi had broken his nose as well.

He pointed at his teacher, lifting up his right arm as he caressed his jaw with the other.

"You...why?"

The copy ninja grabbed his right arm, and looked him straight in the eye.

"You know why, you little asshole. If you ever – and I mean ever – talk to Sakura that way again you little bitch, I'll fucking break your neck."

With that, the silver haired man pushed Sasuke's arm the opposite way, snapping it at the elbow. He saw the look of pure horror at what he had done on Sasuke's face.

Kakashi simply smiled to himself and walked away. _He got exactly what he deserved._

* * *

A few days later, Shizune came into Tsunade's office with more reports from the hospital, and ninja's that had finished their missions. She looked over a Tsunade, and saw that she had a look of worry mixed with anger on her face. _Oh no, _Shizune thought, _this can't be good._

"Shizune...?" Tsunade slowly spoke, staring at her desk. Shizune ever so slightly turned around, being so delicate – as if one move would upset the universe.

"Uhm...yes m'lady?"

"Don't you think it's weird that Lee and Sasuke were both sent to the hospital when they weren't even on missions? I mean, I understand Lee because he provoked a fight...but why? And Sasuke didn't even do anything."

Shizune wondered as well. She thought about the possibilities, and looked up at the ceiling as she thought.

"You know m'lady, I can't say myself that I know who did it or why."

"Well, I'm going to go try and get some answers."

* * *

It had been a few days since Sakura had thought about who she could turn to when she had problems; who she could talk to. She wasn't totally sure about talking to Kakashi, but she thought, _Why not?_

She made her way over to Kakashi's apartment, humming cheery tunes to herself the whole way. The kunoichi was a little nervous, but she decided to just push that out of her mind.

While she was walking, she wondered what she would talk to Kakashi about. _Maybe just...regular things?_ Sakura didn't want to spill her guts out, but she didn't want to make it seem like she came over for no reason either. She decided she would talk with him about the incident with Lee – since she never really got the chance to clear that up anyways.

Sakura got to the apartment, and reached her hand up to knock on the door. She froze, and thought about if she was doing the right thing. Absent-mindedly she knocked on the door, and her heart sank into her stomach. _Why am I so nervous?_ She thought to herself.

* * *

Kakashi was at home, sitting on his black leather couch reading his favourite book: _Icha Icha Paradise._ Then, he started thinking about whether or not what he did to Sasuke was the right thing.

"No," he thought out loud, "it was defiantly the right thing to do. No good, backstabbing, little prick..."

He heard a knock on his door, and, startled he dropped his book. _Who in the world could that be?_

The copy nin hoisted himself off his couch, and lazily –like always- drug himself to answer the door.

* * *

Sakura was just contemplating leaving, when the door opened. She looked up, and relief washed over her. She wasn't sure why, but whenever she was around Kakashi lately...she just felt at ease.

"Oh, Sakura? What are you doing here?" Kakashi said.

"Uhm, Hi sensei...I was just...uhm...can I come in?" She pleaded, looking up at him with her beautiful green eyes. Kakashi was astounded by her beauty, and caught himself before he started day dreaming. He smiled at her, and stepped back, gesturing for her to come inside.

"Of course."

Sakura nodded to her sensei as thanks, and walked in, removing her shoes. She looked around his apartment, and thought it looked more like a large house than it did an apartment. Looking to her right she saw a cozy little living room, with hard-wood flooring and a long, black leather couch along with a love seat and a lazy boy. On the coffee table she saw _Icha Icha Paradise _and chuckled silently to herself.

Looking straight ahead, she saw a roomy kitchen with beige tiled floors, and beautiful black granite counters to match the dark wooden cupboards, and stainless steel appliances.

To her left, she found a small staircase, probably leading up to a master bedroom and a bathroom.

She felt a hand on her shoulder, and looked to her left to see her teacher looking at her questionably.

"So Sakura, what brings you to my apartment? And, more importantly, how did you find it?" he laughed, leading her to the living room. They sat down on the long, three person couch and Sakura giggled.

"Well, your address is in the hospital records and all...and I just...I wanted to talk." She stared at her feet, yet again.

Kakashi was awestruck when she said that **she **wanted to talk with **him**. He turned his head to the left to see her, staring at her feet again.

Reaching out, he put his finger under her chin; just like he had in the hospital. Lifting her chin up, he said "You know, staring at your feet is an awful habit."

They both stared at each other for a minute before laughing out loud. Taking a breath in, Kakashi got prepared to ask Sakura what she wanted to talk about.

"So...Sakura." she turned to look at him, eyes widened expectantly. "What exactly did you want to talk about?"

The kunoichi started to shift her gaze to the floor, but stopped herself before she did. Sakura looked Kakashi in the eye, and struggled with her words as they came out.

"Well...you see, after you told me you would always be there to talk in the hospital...I started thinking about people I could actually talk to about stuff that matters."

Kakashi nodded his head, and made an 'mm hmm' noise, motioning her to continue.

"And I thought about it, and I have a lot of stuff I have to get off my chest."

Again, he nodded.

"And...I think you're the only person who I can talk to." Sakura could feel her cheeks turning red, and she was getting even more embarrassed by the second.

"Well, you know what I think?" Kakashi asked her. She looked up at him, and he could see the tears welling up in her eyes.

"I think it's wonderful that you decided to take that advice." He smiled, his eyes squinting so Sakura could tell that he was smiling.

She burst into tears, and practically tackled him, and hugged him so tight he could hardly breathe. He held his arms out, not sure whether to wrap them around her, or just keep them out. Kakashi looked down at her, and decided it would be best to hug her.

Sakura felt Kakashi's arms wrap around her, and she felt nothing but an eerily calm enveloping her. She loved that feeling.

In between tears, and gulps of air as she tried to catch her breath, she was trying to tell Kakashi about what Sasuke had done to her.

"Sakura, you can stop." He said, gently stroking her hair. She was still hugging him, with her face buried in his chest.

"W-why?" she choked out.

"Because, I already knew. I saw what he did to you outside the night club. I heard what he said to you in the hospital; I wasn't really asleep."

"Then...was it you who?"

"Put him in the hospital? Yes."

They sat in silence for a minute, both not sure what to make of the other's confessions. Sakura squeezed him harder, and whispered "Thank-you" to him.

Kakashi was a bit taken aback by her reaction – he had expected her to be furious that he would do such a thing to one of his students. Then again, he didn't expect her to come to his house and confide in him either.

* * *

Once he had calmed Sakura down by stroking her hair, and whispering "shhh" to her enough that she had stopped crying, he grabbed her by the shoulders and leaned her back – just enough so he could look her in the eye.

"Well, now that that's over, would you like some tea?"

Sakura stared at Kakashi, and grinned, wiping the dried tears from her eyes.

"Absolutely."

Kakashi smiled back at her, and stood up from the couch. She sat there for a minute or 2, and he came back into the living room with a tray of tea on it.

"That was...fast." she said, bewildered at how fast he came out with the tea.

"I would like to say I'm just that good at making tea," he said, turned to look at her, "but I had already made tea before you came over."

They both laughed as he poured tea in a cup for her and himself.

Kakashi wondered why, out of the blue, Sakura would come to **him** to confide in. Maybe she had gotten the hint? Either way, he was eternally grateful to whatever force of nature had guided her to him.

* * *

**AN: ****That's it for chapter six! I really like this one, I hope you guys do too! Sorry about Kakashi swearing so much... xD Don't forget to review, it really boosts my writing...wants? My URGE to write, thats the word I was looking for. Thanks! If you have any suggestions, just send me and inbox!**


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